Marital Property
by kfizzlewizzle92
Summary: AU Future Fic! Austin & Ally had a great marriage until he managed to mess everything up. Following stardom instead of his family, he creates hostility between himself and the two girls that mean the most to him in the world. How will Ally and their sixteen year old daughter react to Austin's attempt to re-enter their lives? Is it too late for him to make a true man of himself?


**A/N: Hi I'm a jerk. I'm starting this fic two days before school starts while I still have two other multichapters to finish. However this idea wouldn't leave my mind so I really, really wanna know what you guys think of it. Please review.**

**Twitter: kfizzlewizzle**

**All outfits are on Polyvore. Check my bio.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally**

"Lennon come on, sweetheart! He'll be here soon!" She called loudly in an attempt to make her voice carry up the stairs, continuing to stow the leftovers from the Chinese take out that had been her daughter's choice for dinner.

She was certain that she already felt the MSG eating away at her stomach lining, but such was the life of a working mother when you let your sixteen year old choose your meals every other night.

She'd make up for it on Monday by making glazed salmon served on sautéed veggies.

Ha ha ha. Sweet vengeance.

Closing the refrigerator door, she heard the unmistakable sound of heavy footsteps ambling down the stairs, and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at the display of dramatics.

Just as she was about to send up a verbal inquiry, a dirty blonde teenager rounded the corner, hair piled atop her head in a chaotic clump that could barely be called a bun, with a beaten leather rucksack hanging carelessly from her fingers. To complete the grungy, thrift shop look, she had on an oversized grey sweatshirt, denim shorts, and scuffed converse.

Looking down at her own pale pink sleeveless blouse, ironed black slacks, and rose colored pumps, Ally Dawson Moon had never been more sure of who fathered her child.

"You have a brush, right?" The older brunette asked sarcastically, rounding the kitchen island and bringing her hands up to try to salvage what she could of the blonde's hairstyle, "I could've sworn I bought you a brush."

Taking a step back and laughing at her mothers antics, Lennon swatted at the intrusion, "Shut up. Sorry not all of us have _perfectly coiffed chignons._"

Rolling the last three words off her tongue in a near perfect imitation of the older woman, she threw her backpack up onto the counter, ran a hand over her mothers sleek brunette bun, and hopped up onto a barstool. Grabbing a banana, she began to peel it but paused when she saw the wide eyed look of shock on her moms face, "What?'

Ally placed her hands down and tilted her head, leaning across the marble slab that was separating them, "Lennon, seriously? You just ate a whole carton of fried rice and half of a _family sized _order of orange chicken. How are you still hungry?"

The blonde shrugged, "Fast metabolism, I guess." Grinning she sunk her teeth into a huge bite of the banana.

"Yeah, you get that from your father." Ally shook her head endearingly, walking around to wrap her arms around her daughter's neck and kiss the top of her head. She savored the moments when she could catch Lennon in a seated position because that was the only time she had a height advantage on her anymore. The girl was like a damn beanpole, sprouting two inches taller than her by her freshman year of high school and she was still growing everyday. She got that from her father too.

And her blonde locks.

And her natural tan.

And her stubbornness. Stubbornness that was currently being put on display.

"Speaking of the asshole, what time is he supposed to get here?" The mood in the room immediately shifted as the angst-ridden version of Lennon (who only came out at the mention of her father) joined the conversation.

"Don't swear." Ally reprimanded, as she strode towards her purse to retrieve her cellphone, wondering why her ex-husband was already late.

When it came to her daughter there wasn't much _she_ could do in terms of Lennon's feelings towards her father. She could try for hours on end to convince her that he was a great guy (or at least that he used to be), that was 150% committed to his family who loved both of the girls with an intensity unmatched by anything she'd ever seen in her life, but her daughter would never believe it. Especially after having dealt with the man that had been weekend fathering her for the past six years.

A man that was decidedly not the Austin that Ally had once loved.

Although getting pregnant at twenty had not been in the planned deck of cards for them, Austin had committed himself fully as soon as she'd shown him the definite blue lines on the pregnancy test. He did everything right, proposing to her and giving her a dream wedding, then pouring himself into work to provide a more than comfortable leaving situation for their small family.

After Lennon's birth she had continued to write songs, for both him and other artists, and he continued to go on world tours bringing both his wife and their newborn on all of his journeys. At some point she'd decided that the rockstar life would no longer be conducive for raising their child and that she wanted to get Lennon settled into a real home, where she could go to a real school and make real friends.

Austin agreed reluctantly, but wasn't ready to settle himself down yet. After years of him being home for five months and touring for seven, their relationship began to fall apart.

And both of them sat back and watched it happen.

And here they were now. She and Lennon living in a beautiful townhome in Long Island, the younger girl in her junior year of high school and Ally owning a record label that she'd built from the ground up during all those lonely hours spent without him.

And him off doing God Knows Who, God Knows When.

God Knows What, she meant. _What. _

Every now and then, more frequently as of late, he'd drop in to see the human being that he sired.

At least that's how it seemed to her.

She could only imagine how Lennon felt.

Since the divorce, their daughter had been the recipient of countless lavish and extravagant gifts for every holiday (He'd gotten her a pony for Easter once and Ally had actually almost killed him), but it didn't make up for him not being around. Lennon had been a daddy's girl until she was ten. That meant she understood what she'd lost from the divorce, and Austin never did too much to remind her that the demise of his and Ally's marriage wasn't her fault and that she still had the same father she'd always had.

Not to mention the poor child was faced with daunting task of having_ Austin Moon _as a_ father. _

Once a very loving and trusting child, by the age of twelve Lennon had already seen a myriad of friendships crash and burn because of what other kids thought that she might be able to do for them.

"_Wait. You can't get your dad to sing at my birthday?"_

"_How come you didn't get ponies for us too? It's no fair only you get one!"_

"_Why doesn't your dad live with you? Does that mean I won't get to meet him?"_

Now much more aware of the precarious position that her status as Austin Moon's daughter presented, she mostly stuck with her core group of four friends that she'd had since sixth grade.

But Ally wasn't complaining. They were an awesome group of kids.

"Yes, mother." The blonde complied, tossing her banana peel in the trash and then visually shrinking into her seat, head dropped into hands, as the rap of knuckles on their front door rang through the home. "Do I have to go with him?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Ally joked, walking down the long hallway to the entrance, resisting the urge to check her own appearance in the mirror hung on the wall. She was past caring what he thought of her. "Some stupid law about joint custody." With a wink towards the distressed teen, she opened the door to hell.

Both literally and figuratively.

"Austin." She greeted with as much warmth as she could muster up.

Which sadly happened to be quite a bit.

Most of it resting low in her stomach.

Because as usual, he looked phenomenal.

Sharp as a knife in a crisp blue button down, and pressed black slacks, shoes shining like the 24 karat promise ring he'd bought their daughter when she was eleven.

24 karats. Eleven years old.

Yeah.

"Hey Als." His mouth curved into a smirk, and he tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Ally, Austin. It's Ally." She tried to ignore the way her heart clenched at the old nickname, just as it always did. A constant reminder of when things were easier between them, before the fame and money. "Lennon!"

She beckoned her daughter forth, knowing that she was still sitting in the kitchen, ignoring her, and trying in vain to delay the inevitable.

"How have you been?" Her ex asked with a genuine smile and a lift of his shoulders.

Oh, this is so not what she was in the mood for tonight. Still clad in her business clothes she just wanted to slip out of her heels, let her hair down and drink wine while watching Netflix.

And probably invite Trish so she didn't seem _as _pathetic.

But having a casual conversation with the father of her child was not on that list. "I've been great. How are you?"

His arms folded across his chest and the muscles in his shoulders strained against the fabric of his shirt. He leaned against the doorjamb before responding, "Good. Just wrapping up my new album. How's the record label?"

"Still kicking." Just today she'd signed the newest up and comer on MyTewb. Of course she wasn't going to share that news with him though because that would only spark further conversation. Fingers digging into the door handle she calls back over her shoulder, "LENNON MAISY MOON!"

"I'm coming! Jesus." The teen muttered under her breath, backpack once more in her hand as she shuffled towards her parents.

"Hey, Len!" Austin held out his arms expecting an embrace since he hadn't seen her in almost six months.

"Father." Lennon's voice was cold and detached. She wrapped her arms around Ally's neck (Cause ya know, the whole height thing) and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek, "Bye mom. I love you. Have fun tonight, okay?" She took hold of her mom's hands and gave a little squeeze. Flashing a quick smile, she ran out the door.

Right past her fathers waiting arms.

A tinge of hurt clouded Austin's eyes and Ally felt something lodge in her throat. Swallowing it down, she attempted to console the man that once meant something to her. "She's just…ah, you know."

Her arms were flailing uselessly and she briefly wondered why she was even allowed to speak in situations like this because, seriously.

"Uh yeah. Yeah. I know." When he ran his hand through his tamed hair, she was brought back to the days when the blonde locks constantly showed signs of that nervous tick of his, disarrayed being the only word that could be used to describe the retired look. "Um, Als-Ally, I need to talk to you about something."

Well this was a first.

Her head tilted to the side in curiosity, "Right now? While our daughter is in your car waiting for you?"

"Oh! Yeah, right!" he glanced back at the car, waving to his daughter and then holding up his index finger to imply that he'd be there in one minute. "We can talk about it later. I just wanted to let you know-"

Mental drumroll please.

"I'm moving to New York."

Well damn. Yeah, they'd definitely need to talk about that.

But later, because he was already running back to his sporty little Corvette for his weekend with their kid.

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"WHAT?!"

Ally jumped nearly throwing her wine glass against the wall. Luckily she had already drunken enough of the tart liquid that even with the abrupt motion, nothing spilled out from the rim. "Jesus Christ, Trish! I'm sitting right here. You don't need to yell."

Her best friend paused Orange is the New Black, and turned on the couch to face her. "You can't just tell me that Austin is moving here and not expect me to react, Ally! What the actual fuck? Why? I thought he wanted to stay in L.A!"

Ally stretched her toes that were propped on the coffee table in front of her. Twirling the glass of wine between her fingers, she bit her bottom lip, clearly contemplating Austin's latest bombshell. "I thought so too. He just dropped it on me when he picked Len up today. And then drove off before I could ask him anything about it."

Trish waited a moment before speaking up again, "How do you feel about it?"

She jerked her head towards the Latina hearing the unspoken question. "No, Trish. Absolutely not. Just…no."

Trish held her hands up in surrender, "I know, Als. But you and Austin were supposed to be endgame. And the only reason you divorced was because you wanted different things. But now that he's moving back maybe he wants-"

"Trish, stop! It's not happening!" She sighed, slamming the wine glass onto the table and standing up to pace the room. "Austin was selfish and deceitful and _that's _why we divorced. He didn't think it was important to be there for us when we needed him. So many missed calls and voicemails when all I needed was to hear his voice. What seemed like a million nights staying up with Lennon sobbing into my chest, trying to explain to her why she wouldn't see daddy for a few more weeks."

She felt it all coming to head. Things that she'd rarely let herself think about during the last six years, "He wasn't there for her first day of school, Trish! Her first fucking day of school! I had to walk _our _daughter into her classroom, and say goodbye to her and he wasn't even there. I couldn't drive home for twenty minutes because the tears wouldn't stop! And birthdays! God, the birthdays. He missed so many of her birthdays. And sometimes a Skype call just won't cut it. Not to mention the times that he completely forgot about mine…" Her voice trailed off, so she could choke back the sob threatening to spill out.

Walking back to her best friend, she sat on the coffee table facing her. "I can't do it again. Austin Moon stopped being the boy I fell in love with a long time ago. And Lennon….I could never pull her back into anything like that. She's the most important person in my life. He's all but neglected her since the divorce, thinking that maybe he could buy her love but she just deserves so much more. All I want is for my baby to have her daddy back."

She didn't feel the tears streaming down her face until Trish leaned over to wipe one of the salty betrayers away. "I know, honey. Come here."

Plopping back over to the couch, Ally laid her head onto the other woman's lap. It was their usual position when one of them needed comfort.

Running her nails through the chocolate curls sprawled across her legs, Trish finally spoke. "Ally, you know that I love Lennon more than anything. Since the moment that the little shit flew out from between your legs all four of us were head over heels for her."

Ally laughed through the swollen mess that was her face.

"And she needs her dad. I understand what you're saying. And I remember everything too…"

She could hear the Latina anger beginning to come out in her best friends voice and squeezed the thigh that her head was resting on in reassurance.

"Austin really has turned into an asshole. I guess a part of me will just always hold on to the hope that Austin & Ally will be a duo again, you know? We all had such good times."

Relaxing under the feel of fingertips tracing along her scalp, Ally let her eyes drift close, "I know, Trish. I know."

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"Strawberry milkshake?" Austin asked with a wide grin, sitting in a fifties themed diner across from a sixteen year old who was the spitting image of her mother.

From the beautiful, brown doe eyes.

And the cute, button nose.

And the inherent sarcasm. The sarcasm that was being put on display at this very moment.

"Yeah, sure!" She perked up, closing her menu, "And also I'll have the dino-nuggets and the fun crown hat! Then afterwards you can give me a piggyback and tuck me in just like you used to when I was ten!"

He grimaced, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Except, oh gosh, I forgot that things have actually changed in the past six years." She placed her menu down on the table and folded her hands over it with a shrug, "Shucks."

"Lennon, are we going to do this every time we see each other?" He asked tentatively.

She shrugged again and reopened her menu in an attempt to find what it was that she _actually _wanted, "Well if we saw each other more than once a year I probably wouldn't have to keep reminding you."

Lennon: 1, Austin: 0.

"Well what if I told you that I have a way that we might just be able to make that work?"

Her eyebrow lifted perfectly, yet another thing she inherited from his ex wife.

"I guess we'll never know until you tell me."

She had grown into quite the firecracker. It still surprised him every time he saw her. It blew his mind that there was a time when she used to fit into one of his hands and now she sat across from him with the mouth of a witty comedian and shorts that would probably be banned even from the VMA's.

He'd be talking to Ally about that.

"I'm moving to New York."

White knuckles visibly tensed around the laminated plastic of the menu, "What?"

She didn't seem too thrilled but that didn't really surprise him. He knew he had a lot of making up to do with her.

And her mother.

"I'm moving here. After this album releases I think I'm going to step off stage for a little bit. Try my hand at producing songs instead of singing them. Heck maybe your mom might hire me at her label…"

She didn't laugh at his joke.

"Why are you doing this?" Her voice was just above a whisper.

"I told you. I just want to take a br-"

"Dad. Why are you doing this?" She spoke much more clearly this time.

Thick fingers tore through his hair as he really thought about the answer to her question. It then dawned on him that she was sixteen. Therefore old enough to know the truth.

"I fucked up, Len." Her eyes widened at the swear. If there was one thing that had remained constant in her life in terms of her parents, it was their strictness about cursing.

Although her Aunt Trish had been loyally counteracting said strictness for as long as she could remember.

"I fucked up with you _and _with your mom. And while I know that it's too late to rectify the situation with her, I still have time to fix things with you. You're my baby girl and it kills me that we don't have the relationship that we used to. When your face used to lighten up when I held out my arms to you and when you needed me to sing you lullabies before you'd even get into bed. I get that you're…well you're older now. And I don't know how to be the dad of a teenager. I know I haven't done a great job the past six years but I want to be better. So that's why I'm moving here. To rebuild a relationship with my daughter."

There was an internal struggle being fought inside of her, he could see it in the all too familiar eyes. "It's going to take more than empty promises for me to forgive you, you know?"

He swallowed dryly, "They aren't empty, Len."

She nodded briskly, reaching for the wrapper to her straw and twirling it in her lap to avoid his eyes. "Have you told mom?"

"Yeah."

At his answer she looked up, "What did she say?"

He cleared his throat at the thought of having to face his ex-wife now that she'd had time to let the news sink in, "Nothing. I ran to the car before she could."

Lennon chuckled, "Smart man."

Right as he was poised to respond, the waitress came over. "What can I get you two?"

Austin looked to his daughter, urging her to order first. "I'll have the barbeque burger with everything."

The waitress nodded, and scribbled it down. "And to drink, hon?"

Chocolate eyes met across the linoleum tabletop.

"A strawberry shake, please."

**A/N: Okay so I have so many ideas in my head for multichapters that I'm going to have to start updating based on review count. The last chapter of Picture That only got 12 reviews, the first chapter of Deadly Affair has 16 reviews…If you want me to update this one before the other ones leave a review and let me know! **


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